Fluffer: The Alternate Story
by LucyFitzgerald77
Summary: What would have happened if Jess had ignored Sam's text?


This is something else that could have happened in "Fluffer" (2x3). Hope you enjoy! A one-shot story, although I'm not saying complete. If I get a ton of reviews, I might possibly do one more chapter.

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Jess and Nick were sitting together in the restaurant becoming more and more drunk by the minute. Nick couldn't keep his eyes off of his beautiful roommate. The way she smiled, the way she laughed, the way that red dress was clinging to her body. Jess's phone vibrated and she glanced at it but put it down.

"Who was that?" Nick asked, even though it was none of his business.

"Just Sam. He wanted to let me know he's "available"," she replied.

"And you aren't?" Nick asked innocently. He was always doing this-coming off sounding cool and nonchalant but in reality he was restraining from spilling out the true feelings he had for her.

"No Nick," she started, "I thought about it some more and Sam will never be the dating type guy. He might be good in bed but I'll just have to wait until some other guy comes along. I'm sick of wasting my time."

"That's really mature of you Jess," Nick complimented, "It'd be too hard for me to give up sex with someone hot just to wait for what you call "the real thing".

"That's because you're a horny man," Jess teased, "Guys don't have any control of keeping it in their pants."

Nick shrugged. "I can't disagree with you there. I mean, I want the real thing, but I have needs."

"What kind of girl do you see yourself ending up with someday?" Jess asked, slightly changing the subject.

Nick didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't want to lie to her but telling her that it was her he imagined himself with someday would probably freak her out.

"Umm," he stuttered.

Jess could only look at him, her eyes sparkling with anticipation for his answer.

He tried to word his answer carefully. "A girl that can put up with my crap. Someone that doesn't mind the real Nick Miller. And she has to be hot!"

"Well I guess you'd never want to be with me then," Jess joked.

"Why do you say that?" Nick was confused. She wasn't supposed to say that.

"Well you annoy the hell out of me. I've only seen the real Nick Miller though so I guess I wouldn't mind you. But I'm a far cry from being hot," she explained.

"Are you kidding me?" Nick knew he shouldn't continue but the alcohol was taking over and quite frankly he didn't care. "You're the hottest damn girl I've ever known. Everything about you is hot."

Now Jess was the one who was without words. Did Nick actually just tell her she was hot?

"I couldn't help it. I'm sorry," Nick looked down for a second, nervously cracked his knuckles, and then looked up.

"No, no, it's okay Nick, I just, didn't know you felt that way about me, that's all," Jess responded, stuttering on her words.

Nick laughed nervously. "I always have." Why the hell did he let that slip? He could have just saved himself, but no. He was continuing this awkward conversation.

Jess tilted her head, a look of amused confusion on her face. "What? I had no idea Nick."

"Of course not," he replied, "I didn't want you to know. We're roommates. Trying to date you could potentially be a very messy and awkward situation."

"Date me?" Jess looked really surprised now. Darn him and his stupid mouth!

It was too late for him to recover from this so he decided to continue with full gusto. "Yeah Jess. I like you. A lot. I have since I've known you. I've never wanted to be with someone more in my whole life but I had to hide my feelings because if you found out, you'd probably freak out. And I can't date you because I signed a "no nail oath" when I moved in."

"A "no nail oath"? What the hell is that?" Jess asked, completely baffled by his confession.

"Look Jess, when you moved in, there was just something about you. I told the guys I wanted us to make a "no nail oath"-a contract saying none of us would sleep with you. First of all because I knew I wouldn't be able to keep myself away from you if something wasn't set in stone to prevent me from doing so. And secondly, I didn't want Schmidt or Coach to ever sleep with you," he confessed.

"So you've had feelings for me this whole time?" Jess didn't really know what to say.

"I've tried to ignore it. I dated other girls but I never stopped thinking about you. I know you're probably going to hate me after this. I can just move out and…" he didn't get to finish because Jess interrupted him.

"Move out? Nick, I don't want you to move out. I don't hate you! I'm just, trying to process all of this. All of these feelings I have right now from what you've told me."

"What kind of feelings?" Nick almost whispered. His nerves were kicking in now but there was no turning back. Everything was out in the open now.

"Maybe you mean a lot to me too," Jess replied.

"Maybe? Really?" Nick smiled slightly, not feeling quite as mortified as he had a few seconds ago.

"Nick, you're my best friend. Well aside from CeCe. But actually, I think I tell you way more than I do her. Since I've known you, you've been the first one to listen to my problems. You always know how to cheer me up. I've been wrong about you this whole time," she told him.

"What do you mean you've been wrong?" he asked.

"Well, I've always put relationships in different boxes. Friends in one box, boyfriends in another. But it's been kind of blurry lately because of you. I feel like I've had to put you into your very own box. It's like, you're my boyfriend except I'm not sleeping with you," Jess explained.

Nick grinned. "Do you want to sleep with me?"

"I think so. Maybe," Jess was suddenly shy. She was unexpectantly very aware of his kissable looking lips, the sleeves of his shirt that were slightly tight around his arms from his recent working out, his soft brown eyes that were independently flirting with her, and his sexy but messy hair.

"If you do, I certainly won't be protesting," Nick told her.

"That's huge Nick. I don't want to mess up our friendship. You mean too much to me. If we sleep together and it gets weird, I don't want to lose you," she reasoned.

"That's not going to happen," Nick said confidently, "What we have is too strong to fall apart, even if something like having sex ends up being a mistake. I don't want to push you into anything though Jess. But after tonight, it's going to be incredibly hard for me to not keep asking you and thinking about you in that kind of way."

"So we should do it then?" Jess asked.

"Only if you want to," Nick smiled.

"Let's do it! Let's have sex!" Jess said a little louder than she should have for being in a fancy restaurant.

The waitress happened to be coming in their direction right then and Nick waved his hand over. "Check please?"

"What about the "no nail oath"?" Jess asked after the waitress left.

"To hell with it," Nick replied, "As long as I'm the one that gets to do the nailing, then it's void to me."


End file.
